ok so, im trying to understand the Gilmour's touch when its time to play a solo

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/gilmours-dorian-use/

i was watching that link

the guy talks about the D dorian mode, which turns out to be the Am scale

what is the difference between them? why didnt he just call it the Am scale?

im having alot of trouble trying to understand modes and stuff like that, i know about relative minor/major but the rest just make my brain overheat


so yeah a bit of explanation if you may thanks







This post was edited by icp_1 on Jan 24 2011 02:37pm

I'm in the same boat lol. I never studied theory, so I don't get modes either. I look to Skolnick for modes because he uses the ones that impress me the most lol

The basic idea behind the modes is that with each of them you get a different sound or "flavor" because you're accenting or focusing on different notes and different patterns and licks etc.

This video gives a basic introduction and overview of the modes and what they accomplish. If you want you can go through his modes series (he has a video for each of the modes Ionian, Dorian etc.) and try and get the concept down. Hope this helps

i think im getting it

http://guitar-music-theory.com/modes.html

i read all of this link, very well explained




In the above example, why did the sound change? Because mixing notes and chords is exactly like mixing colors. Yellow and blue make green but red and blue make purple. Likewise, the G major scale over a G chord makes the so-called "Ionian" sound while the G major scale over an Am chord makes the so-called "Dorian" sound. So, it doesn't matter what kind of pattern or position you're actually playing the scale in nor does the note you start on mean anything. It all depends on what note or chord the scale is being mixed with. For detailed instruction on modes see Fretboard Theory Chapter 8 Modes, and Guitar Modes - The Modal Scales of Popular Music DVD.

The difference is perspective. You say, "Why didn't he just say Am scale?" even simpler, "Why not say C Major scale?!?!" All three scales use the exact same notes! The difference is the way the scale behaves when you start on a different note. If you play C Major starting on C and go up to the first octave and down, the sound is 'happy.' If you play C major and start on A and go up to the first octave and back down, the sound is 'sad.' Even though you've played the same notes, the behavior of the notes change. Now we do the same thing starting on D. The sound is also sad but a different kind of sad, hence why we call it Dorian. Although it's minor sounding, D Minor has a different sound than D Dorian.

Modes are like chord inversions. Play a C major chord, C,E,G. Now play first inversion. It's a different perspective on the same chord and the intervals between the notes change thus making a different sound or color. The first inversion sounds almost sad since the first two notes (E+G) are a minor third apart and the C becomes the 6th. This chord behaves different because you rearranged your C chord, just as in your Dorian mode, you rearange the Tone Tone Semi Tone scale.

Make sense now?